


Star wars: Darkness Looms

by Riddlersroad



Series: Star Wars: Flowers of Force [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Lots of Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 17,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21684967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddlersroad/pseuds/Riddlersroad
Summary: A young girl sits in the sand, staring up at twin suns and praying for a way to leave the planet. After realizing her powers, she gets what she wants...But with a cruel twist.Or, this story follows the life of a young girl taken as a student by darth sidious and raised along side a young zabrak boy.(Second part to the Flowers of the Force. Can read alone, but some things won't make since)
Relationships: Darth Maul/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Star Wars: Flowers of Force [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1553956
Kudos: 7





	1. Auction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An auction is held and we learn more about Morgans circumstances.

Morgan swept the shop again. The dust and sand created a small pile for her to throw out the door. She could hear yelling outside while her owner held an auction he was planning to leave the planet, and thus thought selling everything he owned, including his slaves, would be best. Pieces and parts of ships and any plants she somehow managed to grow was among the sold goods.

“Morg, fetch the itchc!” Despite knowing galactic basic rather well, her master often forgot the name of certain parts.

“Itch…” Morgan began searching the shop until she found the item and ran outside with it. She stood next to her master, arms outstretched with the small power cell in her hands. 

Despite being a little over ten, she was tiny. Her golden hair was cut sloppily and short. The rags she wore were far to big and had the sleeves of her shirt and pants rolled up many times. Instead of shoes and gloves, filthy and oily bandages were wrapped around her hands and feet.

“Took you lung enough.” Morgan didn’t bother correcting him. She held the object high for everybody to see. The auctioning began and ended within a minute and the girl was sent back inside to grab more parts. By the time the shoppers were leaving the suns were beginning to set.

“Oi, how much for that?” A man pointed at Morgan before she could go back for more parts. A couple more people chimed in and started calling out the amount of money they would spend. The bidding began and Morgan stood still, eyes low and hands held in front of her. She paid no attention to the amounts people bid. Currency meant very little to her.

“I’ll trade my traveler!”

The name “traveler” is actually just a nickname for a type of speeder. It could be split into three pieces easily and stored. They were old, small, and very slow. Still, they were durable, and apparently good enough for Morgan’s master.

“Sold, to the traveler man!”

Morgan was given a hard push into the crowd. She fell to her knees, scrapping them against the coarse sand. The bidding began again when her master had a different slave bring more parts out.

Morgan bowed to her new master, but he paid very little attention to her.

“My name is Morgan, sir, what shall I call you?”   
  


He barked a laugh. “Name? You’re nothing but property, slave. As for what you’ll call me? Master or slave will do fine.”   
  
“Yes, master.”


	2. Nicknames

There was a long running joke since Mace took a young boy sharing the same name as his padawan despite the boy being younger than most when taken as an apprentice. They were Mini Mace and Master Mace. they retaliated by giing everybody they met a bad nickname. Kooky Qui gon and his padawan Order-wan Kenobi were the Mace’s partners on a lot of missions.

The boy was a quick thinker and a kind child. His brilliant golden hair and mis-matched yellow and blue eyes were nowhere near as eccentric as his personality. But, around the time he turned ten, he began having horrific nightmares about a dark haired young girl being beaten by somebody she called “lord.” Mini Mace kept the dreams a secret, unsure if what he was seeing was the past or the future. He could see both when he was calm, after all.

He sat on a bench in a tunnel in this dream, a pleasant change from the usual dreams. To the left he could see darkness developing into an abyss. To the right was a white light that was blinding if he tried to see to deep in. Here though, sitting in the center, he was able to see perfectly both sides.

Beside him sat a young girl much smaller than him dressed in ragged clothes. Her yellow tail, identical to his, flicked in surprise when she noticed somebody sitting with her. 

“What’s your name?” She asked quietly. 

  
“Mace, what’s yours?”   
  
“Morgan. I’ve never seen somebody here before.”   
  
“Where is  _ here _ anyways?”   
  


She looked between the two tunnels, gripping onto a small metal box until her knuckles turned white. A soft red light spilled out of the cracks of her box. Eventually the girl just shrugged and stood up. “A crossroads, I think. A place to show where you sit between the dark and light.”   
  
“And you? Where do you sit?” He asked, watching as she began pacing back and forth deep in thought.

“I’m not sure I want to go down either road. The light is blinding, and the darkness is an abyss, but this place… this is the perfect spot between the two.”   
  
Mace nodded in agreement. He wanted to say he was on the light side, but there was something about the brilliant white light that made him shy away. The darkness was definitely too scary as well. The abyss had the look of something holding monsters and creatures that were waiting for you to get near so they can grab you and drag you in until you are to far for anybody to find you. He couldn’t choose a side, so he sat in the center, body tense and eyes darting back and forth between the to radicals.

“You’re a fargul too, aren’t you?” he asked, watching the girl’s long tail wrap around her leg. She looked at him, blinking in confusion.

“What’s a fargul?”   
  


Mace stood, letting his tail swing so she could see. “It’s a species. I’m one, and you look a lot like me. Most of them have red, green, or blue hair, though, but you’re blond.”   
  
“So are you.”

“That’s just because my mother was a special fargul. Where’s your brother?” He looked around as if thinking he’d missed somebody somewhere in the tunnel.   
  


“I don’t have one.”   
  
“All farguls have a twin of the opposite gender, even hybrids.”   
  
“Then where’s yours?” she leaned against the wall and watched him curiously.

“I’m not sure. She’s missing.”

She blinked in surprise. “Well, perhaps we’re siblings then? Hmm? Separated at birth. I don’t remember much from before last year. I was told our ship crashed on Tatooine and the people watching over me sold me for the parts to their ship.”

“I can come find you, bring you back to the jedi temple I live at.”   
  
“You’re a jedi youngling?”   
  
“I’m a padawan, actually.” He smiled, standing a little straighter. She giggled slightly, then suddenly turned sad. Her appearance flickered slightly with her change of mood. Like a hologram glitching out. She changed from a small, grubby child to one covered in bruises.

“What happened to you?” He gasped. He leaned towards her, but decided against going towards her. She looked away, closing her eyes and breathing deeply so the flickering would stop. 

“First tell me how you got here. This place… it’s a place in my mind I created.”   
  
“That doesn’t seem possible. How am I here if it’s your mind?” He looked around again. He noticed for the first time that there was a small chalk picture on the wall behind the bench. It looked like a weequay man.

She gave him a small smirk, then waved her hand. The entire world around them changed to a strange library. Books flew from shelf to shelf, most of them with blank pages but labeled covers. It was odd to Mace, who knew that paper books were no longer common except for ancient religious texts or certain less developed worlds. 

Soft yellow light came from the windows high above them. Potted plants sat on shelves in front of books along with odd trinkets. The floor was carpeted with soft, red rolls leading through the shelves to a sitting area full of couches and coffee table covered in plants.

“When you need an escape from the real world for the majority of the time, your mind becomes one of your most powerful assets.” She pulled a bright green book off a shelf. It was labeled “feline species.” 

“We won’t be in most books, there aren’t that many of us. Thirty at most.”   
  
“Why?” she slowly replaced the book and turned back to him. 

“Because… our home world was attacked. Almost everybody died. Our mother could only save a small group of children, the rest were massacred.”   
  
Morgan pouted. Mace watched a small black board roll in. Something like a white stone began writing on the board everything Mace had said. Word for word.

Everything began flickering to black, as if everything was nothing more than a hologram. Morgan looked up at the windows on the ceiling. Mace wanted to do the same, but it was as if something up there was repelling his eyes.

“I’m waking up for some reason. I’ll see you again tomorrow perhaps?”   
  
The library and Morgan flickered away, leaving him in a blinding white light. He covered his eyes, but the lights around him burned at his body until he woke up.


	3. The music plays in the dark

The small closet was furnished with a pillow and blanket. The room, if you can call it that, didn’t offer much space to move, but she could at least stand up. She was rather small for a ten year old, though. Her previous master had been much nicer. He’d given her a small shelf with a room at his shop since she didn’t have any family to live in an apartment with. She only had a bag of items to take with her to this new place. It was mostly clothes, but there was one small music box she knew to be from her mother. It was dirty and had various dents in it but, when she wound it up, the most beautiful melody rang from it. She could change the song with a thin strip of paper with holes punched out in certain notes, but she didn’t have anything to make the songs out of.

In a hushed tone, she began singing along to the woman who had previously held the music box.

_ “Hush little child, don’t say a word. _

__ _ I will make sure you don’t get hurt.” _

The lullaby put her mind at ease and she closed her eyes while she emptied her mind. It was an accident, but she opened the music box while it played. 

So far she was the only one who can open it. A small, red crystal shaped like a four sided star sat inside. She’d learned very quickly not to touch it, or else she’d be forced to hear and watch the massacre of a humanoid species. Her species.

Mace had nothing from his mother, or any sign of who his father was. But, as most of the jedi masters knew, the young boy was gifted with psychometry. He, like his mother and (though only he knew) his sister, could see into the past as seen by an object he touches. His master constantly told him to learn to control it by not wearing his gloves all the time. The boy never listened.

As he watched over a week of his sister’s physical state deteriorated under a new master, he decided he needed to get her help as soon as possible.

“Master, I need to talk to you about something.”   
  
“I’m all ears,” Master Windu replied. He looked away from an infopad to stare at the young boy. MiniMace took a deep breath.

“I found my sister.”   
  
The infopad shattered against the floor.


	4. Decisions decisions...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...all of them wrong

Master Criles was crueler to Morgan than any of her previous owners. He made it clear daily how little he cared for her by giving the little girl an impossible amount of chores to do then beating her when she didn’t finish them. 

Morgan was careful to not lose her temper. It never got better, and after only a couple weeks she tried to run away. Her master caught her, stunned her, and tied her up in her closet. When she woke up, she found the door was locked tight to keep her from escaping. She whimpered and backed into a corner, wrists and ankles tied tight to the point that they bruised her thin limbs.

She startled awake one night, even though everything was quiet. Her room was illuminated by only the soft red light leaking out of the music box. On the opposite side of the room was a boy who looked older and bigger than me. He had bruises all over his body and face, and he only wore pants. She’d never seen a being like him. He looked human, but his skin was red and he had many horns on the top of his head like a crown.

“Hello,” she whispered. Despite us both curling up against the opposite walls, our feet were nearly touching. “Who are you?”

It wasn’t the first time she’d hallucinated seeing another person. Sometimes they were humans, usually not. Many of them had said they were jedi and they’d come save her, but they were nothing more than dreams. Perhaps it was her mind trying to keep her hopeful.

The boys eyes looked all around the room, missing nothing. They eventually landed on her music box.

“What is that?”   
  
“It’s a music box.”   
  


“Why are we connected like this?”   
  
“Huh? You’re just a hallucination, I’m used to this.”   
  
He blinked, surprised, then it switched to something more like offense. “I’m not a hallucination.”   
  
For a moment he stared at her while she stuttered apologies. Then he began to fade into the darkness that was the room.

“What’s going on?” He asked as he stared at his transparent arm.

“Well, if you’re not a hallucination, perhaps you’re like my brother. Linked to me through the ‘force’. If that’s so, you must be waking up.”

“What’s your name?” 

“Morgan.”   
  
“How do I find you?” He reached out and grabbed her arm. It was so cold it burned, and she would end up with a silvery scar of his hand print. She flinched backwards, accidentally banging her head against the wall. She gave a whimper and froze as she stared into his dark eyes, which looked sad. He slowly faded into the shadows, leaving the girl alone in the closet.

\--

It was taking Master Windu to long to try and convince the council to allow him to go and save the young girl. Every moment that went by the more aggravated he became. Yoda and Yaddle both argued to save the girl, but none of them wanted to give away the secret of the child’s parentage to the rest of the jedi. 

It was taking to long, and soon the young padawan Mace found himself packing his bags to find his sister on his own. It was a terrible decision.

“Where are you going?” Palpatine asked the young boy as they crossed paths on the landing pad. Mace didn’t want to say that he was stealing a ship, so he merely smiled.

“On a trip, sir. How are you?”    
  
“Fine, I suppose. I was called for a meeting, something about a jedi that passed away many years ago. About the time of your birth, actually.” The man blinked, staring at the boy for a moment before shrugging off whatever thought had crossed his mind. “Her name was Comma. She was a kind a gentle member of your species.”   
  
Mace knew who the senator was talking about. She was regarded as a hero who met a terrible end. When he was first told the history of his people’s destruction, she was there throughout. Comma was regarded as the last of the Pale Lady’s, a woman born during the death of the previous one. They were supposed to be a guardian of her people and far more powerful than any of them.

“Yes, I heard.” Mace didn’t want to admit that he’d known for years that his mother was Comma. He was the missing child. Or, at least, one of them. He kept his hair, which he was allowed to keep shoulder length because of cultural beliefs, brushed over his golden eye at all times. 

“You have really blue eyes, don’t you?” Palpatine chuckled. They’d met once when Mace was younger but they never really talked much.

“Yes. I need to get going now, sir. Good luck at the meeting.”   
  
With quick words of goodbye, the boy was off. And the senator was interested in why a young child was leaving the planet alone with the council’s permission. Or, rather, without it.


	5. Find someone to love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...

Morgan laid on the floor of the kitchen after apparently improperly making her master’s dinner. With bits of a glass bottle in her hair, she was dragged back to her closet by Criles. She whimpered as she laid on the floor. Her eyes were too dry to cry, so she just laid still instead.

“Morgan,” a voice echoed through the room. A hand gently rolled her onto her back, but it burned where it touched. The boy stared at a bloody wound on her forehead. Her breathing was shallow and her face pale. Though it had only been a few days, she looked far worse than the last time they’d met.

“You… You came back? Why?” Her eyes drooped and shut before the boy could answer. Slowly the boy’s vision darkened. He opened his eyes to see his room and master.

“Did you find her?” His master demanded in his normal gravelly voice. His body and eyes were covered by his black robes.

“No master.”   
  
“Useless. I’ll find her myself.” The man left, leaving his student behind in the darkness staring down at his empty hand. There was a drop of blood on his hand but he knew it wasn’t from him.

\--

Mace was missing, gone without a single word to anybody. His master worried, and various jedi were on the search for the child.

Morgan waited for him to show up again in their dreams, but he never did. All she knew was that something terrible happened.

“Mace?” Morgan whispered into the void of darkness in her tunnel. There was something in there, whispering to her to join him. “What’s wrong with you? Mace?”    
  
Something stepped into view of the light. It was Mace but… something was terribly wrong. His eyes were gone, a black inky liquid dripping from the sockets onto the floor as he tried to enter the light.

“Where where-” he said. His voice echoed, continuing through the tunnel as if dozens of people were saying it at the same time. “Where are you-where am I?”

“Mace!” She screamed as she watched him scream and start clawing at his face. He flickered and ran towards her. She was thrown to the ground and kicked at the monster that had once been her brother as it began dragging her into the void.    
  


“Kill me-kill. Kill me-make it stop-”   
  
He screamed again and let go as sparks flung off his body. He fell to the ground, and Morgan couldn’t help but try and help him. She rolled him over and quickly checked his pulse. 

He was dead.

But another strike of electricity brought him back screaming and kicking.

“What’s happening?! Mace!”   
  
“Plagius- Plagius- kill, bring back. Kill, bring back-”   
  
“No…” She began crying as she stared down at her brother. He was faded, like he was waking up, but something told her he wasn’t. He was awake or asleep, dead or alive. 

At this point, he was nothing more than a wraith. His conscious would be tied to his last thought before giving up his humanity. She cried and took his hands in hers. She had to give him a purpose. Something to keep him from turning into a monster.

“You have to find somebody to love,” she whispered as she watched the only friend and family she’d ever had fade into the abyss.


	6. Wraith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hmm...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure wraith was the right term but star wars wraiths were really weird compared to most that I see in other series and stuff.

Morgan’s connection to Tattoine brought a monster to the planet. It was tortured, cold, and tired. It did as she said, it searched for somebody to love. Somebody perfect, somebody kind and pure. It took years to find somebody like that on a planet filled with villains and scum.

Morgan was gone when the monster finally found the one. A young slave woman. Her heart was kind, and her smile was brighter than any of the stars or the suns in the sky. 

  
He loved her, he needed her. 

Shmi would never know how she became pregnant, but the monster’s purpose was fulfilled. He found somebody to love, and slowly, as he watched his son and daughter grow up, his mind slowly fixed itself. By the time the children were two, he was able to let go of his humanity completely. He had no reason to stay, and he found himself standing by a woman with golden hair and eyes waiting for him. Together they stood by the bank of a river, waiting for the last member of their family.

“I’m very proud of you,” Comma said, kneeling at her son’s side. He was small, having returned to the form he was in before death. His lip trembled as he held his mother for the first time.


	7. Lifeline

She didn’t move, not even a flinch, no matter what he did. Even when he shook or slapped her, the girl did nothing. She kept her eyes closed and stayed limp as he dragged her by the arm into his work area. Before she could do anything, he’d taken a torch out and burned her arm.

Morgan screamed and he dropped her to the floor. But he wasn’t done- if anything he was angrier. The young girl rolled away as a broom was brought down against the floor right where he stomach had been. Luckily it was wooden and the head broke off on impact. He threw the broom onto the ground, turning around to grab a wire off the wall.

Before he could turn back around, Morgan had grabbed the broken broom and took out his knee. He yelled in pain, but it was cut short by a blow to the head. 

He fell to the ground in a heap while his head began to bleed. She gripped the broom handle harder, ignoring the pain in her arms and fingers from all the punishments and scrubbing for so long her hands ached… from the beating and chemicals that burned her bare hands to the point that her fingerprints would no longer grow back and the feeling at the tips of her fingers were gone. 

Her eyes seemed to glow as she brought the handle down on the man’s head again and again, barely noticing the way his blood splattered over her clothes, or how the whole building was shaking. It was a moisture farm, but her mouth was so dry from dehydration that her tongue licked out in an attempt to taste the liquid splattered across her face.

She panted, staring down at the man as she held the staff. But slowly, as the adrenaline rush passed, she finally realized what she’d done. 

The girl dropped to the ground, clutching the staff to her chest as the pain and fear bubbled up her throat. It begged to be set free. Her pain, her grief, even the anger, forced its way to the surface until she couldn’t hold it back. She raised her head to the ceiling and screamed.

\--

The boy stared at his feet as he and his master flew. It wouldn’t take long to arrive at the desired location. They would find the girl, the master had said, but there was something the boy was not told. A secret.

They landed not far from what had once been a house. They both wore black robes, and the boy would’ve been disgusted by the heat it collected if it wasn’t for the anomaly he stood in front of. He watched with fear as everything that had once been inside the farm house along with the bricks and building materials of the building itself flew around the sight with terrifyingly high speeds. It would’ve caused a giant dust devil if there weren’t two different layers of debris both flying in opposite directions.

In the center was the girl, lying unconscious.

“The jedi will have sensed this disturbance, we must get her.” The master seemed to be looking for a weak point in the debris. Instead of helping, the young boy stepped forwards towards it.

“Morgan, stop!”   
  
Everything froze in place, though still floating slighting as if gravity was nonexistent. 

“Stay back,” the master ordered his apprentice. He made his way through the floating rubble with ease, his black robes somehow never even getting caught on the sharp or dangerous items. He picked the girl up gently along with the broom handle she was clutching like a life-line. As soon as he’d stepped through the floating objects, they fell out of the sky. Dust and sand made it difficult for them to see, but they hurried to the ship anyways. 

“Hurry up!” The master barked to his student. The young boy ran to catch up, stuffing a small box into his pants before the master could even notice.


	8. Toro

Her dreams were darker than usual. Literally. Usually her dreams were lightened up by the music box. It would illuminate the path in the empty void that was her unconsciousness. She kept running into items she couldn’t see, eventually just giving up and sitting on the ground. The young girl curled up with her knees to her chest as she began to cry. 

_ I’m lost _ , she thought to herself.  _ I’ll never get out. _

Panic welled in her chest as she cried louder.

“Morgan stop!” The voice of that boy echoed around her and the tears stopped falling. She tried to call back but had no voice. The panic in her chest disappeared entirely as the music box appeared beside her. Its dim light showed the way. Two paths diverged in different directions on either side of her and on ahead.

The red light illuminated the flowers growing on the path to the right and a dead fern to the left.

“Wake up, little one,” a voice I didn’t recognize called her from the left.

“Morgan, can you hear me?” The boy was on the right. The voice she didn’t recognize began to scold the boy. 

“Which way?” She whispered to her music box. The voices went silent. The red light focused on the middle path, showing flowers and grass but also some dead things. She started forward.

“Wake up.” 

The young girl woke with a start, staring up at the master but not being able to see his face underneath the giant hood. She suddenly flinched and tried to back away from him. Fear filled her eyes and, despite her injuries, she swung and kicked at him with all her might.   
  
“Stop!” She froze at the sound of the boy’s voice. She began whimpering as the man reached for her. The panic in her eyes grew as he came closer and closer. As soon as his hand laid on her shoulder she burst into tears.

“I didn’t mean it!” She cried.

“Yes, you did,” he replied. He grinned, his teeth barely showing through the shadows of his hood. “You’re stronger with the force than anybody I’ve ever met or heard of.”   
  
“You must be mistaken,” she breathed. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than him.

“I can assure you I am not. Tell me, where are your parents. Family?”   
  
“Gone… they’re all gone. Killed.”   
  
“Your age?”   
  
“A little over ten.”   
  
“A mere child, yet all alone?” palpatine tried to hide the amusement in his voice, but she could hear it. “Rest child, I’ll take care of your wounds with the help of my apprentice here.”   
  
She looked over at the boy. “What’s your name?”   
  
He shrugged, face darkening. The master looked towards the boy as well, giving him a slight nod. “Why don’t you give me one, Morgan.”   
  
“T-Toro?”

The young red skinned boy smiled slightly. “Toro it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added this short because I like it but there's really no place I can put it.
> 
> Mace Windu was as patient as possible while searching for his student. As usual, the council tried to convince him to not look for the person he cared for, and as usual Qui gon Jin told him to follow his heart. 
> 
> His heart told him that the boy was gone.
> 
> Mace couldn’t bring himself to replace his student by finding a new one. It took a lot of time, but the man eventually would.


	9. To Rule

Morgan’s master was called Darth Sidious. She wasn’t allowed to know his real name like Toro did, but she didn’t mind. What bothered her was the fact that she couldn’t see his eyes or even the majority of his face. 

Toro continued picking glass out of her hair and dropping it in a pile next to him. He was apparently two years younger than her, even though he was much taller and bulkier. He was so strong, and she was so small, that he could easily pick her up and throw the girl over his shoulder if he wanted. It felt odd to her to have people tending to the injuries dotting her small body. Morgan’s burnt arm was cleaned and bandaged, along with various other cuts and burns. During the travels in the stars, the small girl was provided with more food and water than she could hope of consuming. 

She felt somewhat spoiled, as if being given basic human necessities was a gift.

When they landed, Darth Sidious gently picked up the girl and carried her out with Toro following close behind. The heat hit her hard as the door opened to a tunnel. It wasn’t like the desert hear, which was somewhat terrible, this was like a furnace. It felt like she was sitting too close to a fire. How anybody could possibly live in a place like this was beyond her. Morgan hugged closer to her master’s chest as he carried her. Suddenly cool air hit her so hard she shivered.

“You’ll be safe here, young Morgan. The Jedi won’t find you.”

“Why would they want to find me?”

“The Jedi are corrupt and would have felt the disturbance in the force that you caused. Most likely they’ve found your old dwelling by now and are looking for you.”

He set the small girl down on an uncomfortable bed. It was metal and cold to the touch, but she could handle in. Sidious quickly whispered to Toro for him to do something. 

“What do you mean by disturbance in the force?”

For a moment all was quiet. Sidious was just staring at her, though she couldn’t tell his emotions until he suddenly smiled. He laughed and the girl sighed in relief.

“You really don’t know what you’ve done. No idea what you are capable of.”

“What I’ve… what do you mean by that? What could possibly be worse than murdering my owner?” Her curiosity turned to panic. “Is that why you brought me here?! Is this punishment?!”

Toro entered to find his master trying to calm the hyperventilating girl. He dropped the blankets, first aid, and bucket of water he was carrying to hurry to her side.

“Morgan, calm down, everything is fine.” Toro didn’t look happy at having to soothe her, but his eyes softened when she did as he said. “We need to care for your wounds better.”

She lifted her shirt. Toro tried to look away while blushing, but quickly realized her chest was wrapped in cloth as a makeshift bra. His hand made its way to a silvery scar on her arm, the one he’d given her during a dream.

Sidious seemed more interested in a fresher cut on her torso that she’d sewn shut with what looked like blue thread.

“How did this happen?” He asked as he studied the injury.

“I-I… Why is it important?”

“It’s barely a week old. Did you sew it shut?”

“Y-yes master. It was my first time. I- I didn’t know what I was doing.” She tried not to flinch when he pressed a finger to it.

“Obviously. I suppose it did what it was meant to, but we’ll have to fix it properly later.”

“Yes master.”

Toro and Darth Sidious wrapped the girl up in blankets and laid her to sleep as soon as the various injuries were fixed. She would be staying there, as Sidious said, to keep her safe from the jedi. They would kill her if she was found, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“The jedi wouldn’t do that. My brother was a Jedi padawan, and he was good.”

“A child. He was not corrupted yet. Tell me, what happened to him?”

“He’s gone…” She didn’t want to tell how or why, so she clenched her teeth and kept her mouth shut.

“If the Jedi find you they will kill you. The power within you is to great, they will fear your power to much.”

“I’m not a threat! I-I-” she began panicking again.

“I will not let them hurt you. I’ll train you to control your power. I’ll teach you about the Jedi and just how terrible they are.”

“I don’t want power… I just… I wish I could live a normal life.” I hid my face in my hands. 

“You can, when we defeat the jedi. When will over throw them, create a galaxy in which everybody is safe. We will abolish slavery, protect the innocent.”

She looked up at him. “We’ll help people?”

Sidious grinned, but she couldn’t tell what kind of grin it was. Was it happiness? Sly? “Yes, and you will rule with me.”


	10. Nightmares

Morgan didn’t sleep well. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that her body was still recovering from her injuries, she wouldn’t have slept at all. Her dreams were dark, no lights to be seen. She didn’t bother trying to find a way out of the darkness this time, she knew she wouldn’t be able to find her way on her own. She sat on the ground to wait.   
  


In the distance she spotted a small red glow. It was getting closer and closer at an incredible speed. Morgan stood slowly as the sound of light footsteps and the light came into view. Toro was running towards her, his fearful face illuminated by the soft red red of her music box. 

“Morgan run!”   
  
She waited and began running beside him. “What are we running from?!”   
  
There was nothing behind them, and they kept having to jump over odd helmets. They were white and looked like some sort of mandalorian knockoff.

“I don’t know! I just sorta… sense them.”   
  
She stopped midstep, nearly falling over. Morgan ripped the music box from his hands and turned towards the impending doom. With the box held above her head, they could see a little farther. The red light illuminated a helmet, the body to which it belonged was slightly off the path.

“Toro… we are the danger. And this-” she rolled the helmet over to show a bloody neck “-this is our path of destruction.”   
  
“That doesn’t make sense!”   
  
“Yes it does. My music box never lies.”   
  
The light blinked out suddenly.

“What happened,” he whispered.

She gripped his arm tightly. “Don’t let go. It wants to show us something.”   
  


But, just as the light began illuminating the ground she was woken up.

\--

She stared up at her master with confusion at first then panic at the sneer on his mouth. Even without seeing anything above his lips the girl could tell he was angry.

“What is it? Did I- did I do something wrong?”   
  
He grabbed her burned arm, causing the child to cry out in pain. Without even hesitating he pulled her out of bed.

“I’m sorry, i’m sorry-” Morgan squeezed her eyes shut while trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

“Shut up!”   
  
Her eyes flung open in surprise at his voice, which was, in fact, the voice of a jedi she had met many months prior. She’d mistaken him for a hallucination, just like with Toro. This Jedi had a black beard but was completely bald. He had been very kind, offering assurance that she would be saved. But he never came.

“What are you doing here?” She swallowed her fear of the Jedi man but continued to pull against him. She was used to these weird dreams, but they always hurt nonetheless. “I want to wake up.”   
  
“Who says you’re asleep?”   
  
“Common sense?”   
  
He spun around towards the girl, lifting her by the collar as he did so. He smiled as he slammed her against the wall.


	11. Change of heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask questions, I'll answer anything.

Morgan woke with a start after falling off her bed and hitting her head on the floor. She whimpered and held her head. She stared around the dark room for a moment before sitting back up. The door opened and she flinched at the sudden movement. Darth Sidious entered with her music box in his hand.

“Why do you have that?” She asked quietly.

“It came to me as if it had a mind of its own.”   
  
She wanted to say it did, but instead wondered about her dreams. “But didn’t Toro just have it? If what you said was true Toro and I wouldn’t have shared dreams.”   
  
“You shared dreams?”   
  
Morgan’s mouth opened and closed many times but said nothing.

“Tell me.” His face, though hidden by his own shadow and hood, was probably as stern as his voice.   
  


“W-we did. I don’t know why or how. I’m sorry, master.”   
  
“It is alright. Toro has told me everything about the conversation between you two.”   
  
Morgan resisted the urge to back away as he came closer. Her stuttered apologies were ignored, mostly because he knew it was an accident. A welcome accident, if he was being honest.

He was gentle and calm as he knelt beside the young girl. After all, he wouldn’t want her to fear him. She would never cooperate if she had a negative opinion of him.

“You’ve injured yourself again I see. Come, I’ll take a look.”

“I-I’d rather just go back to bed master.”   
  
“I insist.”   
  
She stood slowly and followed him out of the room. She walked behind him, watching her feet the entire way. As she sat where he said to at a table, she twiddled her thumbs. 

“Master, I would like to change my mind. If you’ll still have me as a student, I would like to train under you.” Morgan blinked a couple times, unsure of why she had decided that. And why did he seem so amused by that?   
  
“The training will be hard, I warn you.”

“I understand.” It couldn’t be much more painful than all the torture she’d endured as a slave, right?   
  


“Why the sudden change of mind?”   
  
Morgan’s mouth gaped, but she couldn’t place the origin of the deep hatred she suddenly felt towards the jedi. They were corrupt, he’d said, and she felt they were evil without really knowing why.

“Can I ask a question first, master?”   
  
“Yes.”   
  
“Will you ever be satisfied with your power? When you rule the galaxy will you keep trying to get more?” _ Where did that come from? _

His frown deepened. She slowly looked up and then back down. 

  
“My apologies. I didn’t m-mean to be rude.”   
  
“I won’t be happy until the Jedi are gone.”    
  
“Then I’ll help, to repay you for saving my life.” She looked up slowly and stared into the hood at where she suspected his eyes would be. “That’s what you wanted right? A loyal student?”   
  
“I’m afraid you’re to fragile to train as Toro does. You wouldn’t last long.”   
  
“If you’re going to train me, I ask that you treat me the same as Toro. though, it’s more of a request than anything.”   
  
“If you say so. Now, return to be. We shall start your training in a few days while you heal. Until I return, you and Toro will do whatever it is children do to get to know each other. You are partners for the time being, after all.”   
  
“You’re leaving?”   
  
“Yes, I have other things to attend to. If you are injured again, the droids will tend to your wounds from now on.”


	12. Gesundheit. [ (guh-zoont-heyt) ]

Toro had been given to Sidious when he was six to be trained as his apprentice. Or, at least, that’s what Sidious had said. For barely two years the boy has trained every day. Painful punishments were a daily occurrence, until now.

“Here,” he handed Morgan a spoon as he sat down across the table from her. The droids made them food, but it didn’t look good… over even edible. It was a greyish color and mushy looking. She dug into the meal without even a word of thanks. Toro gave his a look of disgust before taking a bite as well.

“It’s amazing. They somehow managed to make a meal that both looks and smells terrible but has absolutely no taste.” She smiled at Toro, who still stared at his food with a look of disgust. 

“How can you be so cheerful with food like this?”   
  
“I’m not happy, but your face looks funny that way. It’s all twisted up. And who cares what the food tastes or doesn’t taste like, all you need it for is to survive. If it keeps your belly full I don’t care about the taste.”   
  
Toro’s face relaxed when he realized she was right. All this time hating the food when he should be grateful he was even being provided with it. He didn’t say that out loud though. “You’re really strange.”   
  
“I could say the same about you.” She smiled and the boy caught his breath at the sight of it. He struggled to hold back his own lips trying to twitch into a smile. He looked towards his food again, pushing it around with his spoon. He turned his smile into disgust again, and she laughed at his expression.

“It’s not funny!” He said with mock annoyance.

“Yes it is.”

“How is it funny?!” 

“You’re face is twisted like you’ve eaten something sour.”

He grumbled and put his hands over his cheeks were he knew the blush was showing up. He watched as she looked up towards the ceiling suddenly. She’d spotted the security cameras.

“They’re everywhere except for our bedrooms. Thanks to me, I might add.”

She decided not to ask what he’d done to make their master give them privacy in the rooms. Instead, she turned back to him and smiled brightly. He sucked in a breath at the sight of the brilliant smile she was giving him.

He was left alone for most of his time on this planet, kept company by only the droids programmed to train him. All day, everyday he trained and studied without truly knowing what for and now… now he understood something he hadn’t before.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion.” Toro said quietly. Morgan cocked her head in confusion. He smiled slightly. “It’s part of the sith code.  _ Our _ code. Everybody has their passion. It’s what drives them. What makes them fight long after most people would give up. I thought a sith’s passion was supposed to be power. But I think… maybe that’s not always the case.”   
  
“What’s your passion?”   
  
“I don’t think I’ve found it yet,” he lied. She believed him.

\---

Darth Sidious stared at his screen and tapped his desk. Toro had handed Morgan a small rubber ball. She was making it hover just inches above her hand but was obviously having difficulties with it. Both children sat in the study with shelves full with a mixture of ancient books and datapads. There were a couple slightly uncomfortable chairs yet they sat on the floor facing each other. The fireplace offered light and warmth to the usually cold room.

“So you can control your powers to an extent even while conscious. Good, that’ll save me time.” Sidious muttered. He watched as Morgan made the ball hover higher as Toro watched her closely. She sneezed and the ball exploded into little pieces. 

“Sorry,” she said to Toro. “I didn’t mean to do that.”   
  


He shrugged. “It’s fine, I have more.” By more he meant one that was partially burnt.

The master continued thinking of differences in training that might be necessary for training her. Morgan was technically a Sith assassin, nothing more than a tool. Sidious wouldn’t tell his own master, Plagius, of the girl’s existence. She must be kept a secret.

On the screen, he watched Morgan sneeze again and cause the books nearest to her to fall out of the shelves and spill out onto the ground.    
  
Sidious laughed at their startled expressions. “Your power is raw and moldable. You could be the most power being in all the galaxy!”   
  
She sneezed again, and Toro stood back as the fire flared up and out of the fireplace towards them.

“Training you will be a struggle. Your mind and body are more fragile than Toro’s.”   
  
She sneezed again, and the power went out, including what went to the cameras. Sidious stared at the black screen, shocked but very amused. She wasn’t just controlling the force, she was allowing it to flow through her in any way it wanted.

Toro and Morgan hurried to pick up the books and datapads, ignoring the way the room was already getting uncomfortably warm from the lava and fire of the planet.

“I’d hate to see you with a cold,” Toro muttered. Morgan laughed. 

“He shouldn’t have been talking about me.”   
  



	13. Black star

Toro stared at her, Morgan. She was only a couple years older than him, yet was way smaller. He wondered a lot about her.

Why did she nickname him Toro? Who were her parents? What’s her midichlorian count? Is it about the same as his and circumstances made her more attuned to the force or was it higher than normal and she was able to control? He knew his master would know, but Sidious never told his student anything important. 

Toro found Morgan wrapping up her hand later that day. It was burnt, but not that badly. He was gentle as he helped her wrap it up, asking questions as he did so.    
  
“I have a few questions,” he said.

“Ask, and I’ll do my best to answer.”   
  
“Does the name you gave me have any meaning?” 

She shook her head. “No, it’s just the first thing I thought of.”

She flinched when his finger brushed over the injury on accident. “Do you really not remember anything about your family or where you’re from?”   
  
She nodded. “I lost my memory in a crash, then sold into slavery by the people supposed to be taking care of me.”   
  
“Did master tell you about midichlorians?”   
  
“No. those are the bacteria inside living things though, right? I was told if you had a high count of them then you were more powerful with the force.”   
  
“Yeah, that’s right. Do you know what you count is?” He finished wrapping the injury and just watched her now. He noticed her eyes were mismatched gold and blue, but her hair often fell over her blue eye.

“No, but I assume it can’t be much higher than yours. I’m nothing special…”   
  
“What do you mean it can’t be much higher than mine?”   
  
“I just don’t see why I, some slave, would be stronger than you or master. You both came from powerful places or people. You are from Dathomir, right? And master, well, he’s been trained for a long time probably.”   
  
Toro’s eyes narrowed at her.

“D-did I say something wrong?”   
  
“How do you know about Dathomir?”   
  
“Oh I…” she trailed off, eyes staring off into space. “...I don’t remember.”   
  
Toro watched her for a moment as she seemed to get lost in her thoughts before waving his hand in front of her face to return her to the present. “Hey, I’ve got another question. Why did we share dreams?”   
  
“I think we are linked. I’ve only shared a dream with one other person, my brother, any other time I’ve seen people through the force was like when we met. Sorta like they’re a hologram.”

“What was the importance of the music box?”   
  


She looked away from him towards where her room should be. Her music box was on her nightstand, since Sidious decided last minute not to take it with him. She sighed.    
  
“There’s what master called a kyber crystal inside. It holds memories, I think, of the people who died in its view.”   
  


“Can I hold it?”   
  
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re like me aren’t you? You can see the past through things you touch.”   
  
He gasped, wanting to ask how she knew that but deciding against it. He cleared his throat and regained control of his emotions. “Yes, but it’s not that powerful.”   
  
She looked pained. “It doesn’t matter how powerful or weak you are, the crystal’s pain is great enough that I can’t even touch it with gloves. It finds any weak points and breaks into your mind through it.”

Toro felt a sudden, uncontrollable desire to see and feel the crystal.

\--

The days seemed to pass by slowly for Morgan. She had an odd sense of time compared to Toro though. Unlike Morgan, the boy was dreading the day his training would resume Often times Toro would test Morgan’s courage and desire to train by telling her what his training was like. Beaten with sticks or electrocuted until he gave into his pain and destroyed the robots they trained against. He somehow managed to convince her that her training would be even more brutal. Instead of turning her away from the training like he’d secretly hoped, he made her even more determined.

Toro didn’t see her crystal at all, but he did hear the music box playing a lullaby at night and see the faint red light far from his grasp in the darkness of his dreams. No matter how fast and quickly he ran, he could never reach Morgan and would always wake up frustrated.

He tried to convince her to let him see the crystal, but she always refused. She kept her distance even while he showed her around the base. Here was a training area outside where they would go when they were bored and they’d spar with wooden poles. Morgan prefered to use a staff, while he enjoyed pretending his was a double-bladed sword. Despite not remembering training with a bao staff or sword, Morgan’s fear of being hit allowed her to dodge every attack and even land some hits on Toro.

The library offered texts in many languages Morgan couldn’t understand. Despite this, she committed the illegible texts to her mind library so she could translate it later. By the third and final day Morgan was already nearly caught up sith knowledge wise to Toro.

The night before their master due to return, Toro crept into Morgan’s room while she slept. He was quiet and careful as he removed the music box from her night stand and returned to his room.

_ “Give it back.” _

He spun around, expecting Morgan despite the voice very clearly belonging to somebody he didn’t know. He shut the door, heart rate rising even though he didn’t know why. He sat on the floor in the center of the room and closed his eyes. He struggled concentrating on opening the box while he was internally panicking, but he managed anyways.

He stared into the music box, his eyes caught on the red, four sided crystal in the center. It was small, but the light it cast shown throughout the room without the walls of the box deflecting it.

Toro picked up the crystal and held it high, but the proud smile on his face disappeared when screams suddenly filled his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, but when he woke up he was no longer in his room.

_ “Banka run!” Somebody screamed at him. He had to flee. There were bodies… he saw his sister pushing their little siblings along. _

_ “Banka, what are you doing?!” She screamed. She pulled him ahead. They had to go somewhere, where? Where was he going. Everybody was screaming. The front gate was covered in blood. _

_ The crystal star in his hands was casting black shadows.  _

_ His sister ran off with the children, but his eyes were stuck on the monster on wall far above him. She-it- let out the howl of a monster and jumped down, landing right on top of his siblings. His sister was the first to die, her head slammed into the stone path hard enough to crack it open.  _

_ Banka threw the black star at his little brother and sister, watching as the young boy caught it and pulled his sister into a hug. They were small and scared, watching through the veil of shadows the crystal cast as the monster turned away from them. _

_  
_ _ “Russal, run!” Banka screamed as the monster turned on him. Russal grabbed his sister and fled while Banka grabbed a flower pots from a nearby stand and began throwing them at the monster.  _

_ The last thing he knew, the monster had pounced on him and drew her lightsaber before cutting him into pieces. _

Toro dropped the crystal, but the screaming in his head continued. He could feel their fear and grief, he could hear their screams as if they stood right next to him.

_ “Help us! Help please!” “Mommy, mommy I’m scared!” “Where’s Comma?! Why isn’t she helping us fight?!” _

Toro gripped his head and dropped to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut. The voices screamed and cried for help, then suddenly went silent.

“Toro.” He looked up slowly to see Morgan place the crystal back inside her music box. “Are you alright?”   
  
“What was that? What were those voices?”   
  
“I think they were the voices of the people killed in the attempted genocide of my species, but I can’t be sure.”   
  
“You hear them every time you touch it. How? How are you not broken… How do you not hate the Jedi for what they did?”   
  
She didn’t answer as she turned to the door. 

“Morgan-”   
  
“Don’t touch my stuff.” Despite having whispered it, Morgan’s anger seemed to fill the room. “If I tell you not to do something, there’s a good reason for it.”   
  
She stormed out, leaving Toro with the remnants of the past ringing in his ears.


	14. Training begins

Morgan sat straight as she waited for their master to arrive. She refused to meet Toro’s tired eyes. The girl was still angry with him, but also felt bad that the crystal had caused him terrible nightmares. 

_ I should’ve been more careful, then he wouldn’t have stolen my music box.  _

“Toro, I have a question about the sith code.”   
  
“How do you know about that?”   
  
“I read it,” she looked at him finally and realized his exhaustion would not be missed by their master. 

“But, where-”   
  


“That’s not the point. I read in one of the books about the rule of two. A master and an apprentice. No more, no less. So how is master going to keep us both as apprentices? Is he going to kill Plagueis the Wise?” 

  
Toro said nothing, just stared at the table in thought. His mouth gaped as he tried to think of what to say.

“You’re right,” he whispered. “About everything. Only one apprentice can exist, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t destroy Plagueis already. Wait, isn’t that the name of the man who killed your brother.”   
  
She looked away and nodded. “He did worse than just  _ kill _ Mace, but yes.”

“Why’d you call him ‘The Wise’?” 

“Because he  _ is _ wise. And powerful.” She sneezed loudly, then rubbed her nose with her sleeve.

“You’re gross.” He gave her a disgusted look, then stared at the table again. We waited in silence for the last few seconds before the door opened. Darth Sidious walked in with his face covered as usual.

\---------

Training wasn’t hard, but it was brutal. It borderlined on torture. Morgan was forced to watch from the sidelines in front of her master. Sidious wanted her to watch Toro’s training first. 

A few battle droids rolled out onto the field armed with wooden bats. 

“When you’ve learned to control your pain and hatred you will become the most powerful sith the world has ever seen.”

She tried to look away as the droids began beating the unarmed Toro, but Sidious gripped either side of her head and forced her to face the “training.” Morgan couldn’t help but watch as her friend curled up on the ground trying to protect his face. His cries of pain sounded louder than they should’ve been.    
  
“What is this… it hurts… I don’t understand.” Morgan felt tears well in her eyes, but didn’t know why the pain was so great. She had never cried when any of her friends on Tatooine had been beaten or injured by their masters, so why now? Why with Toro?   
  
Toro cried out again and she felt like she was going to scream. Her heart burned, and her head throbbed. Sidious let go of her and stepped away, watching as she fell to her knees. The ground was shaking to much for her to stay up. With her eyes squeezed tight, she tried to calm her mind. The buzzing in her ears and the shaking ground continued but slowly came to an end.

“Morgan.”   
  
She slowly looked up at the sound of her master’s voice. 

“Yes, master?” The child could barely hear herself over the ringing in her ears.

“Go.” He pointed towards the ring where Toro had been. He was gone now, and she was to take his place.

She gripped her head as it throbbed while she made her way to the center of the ring. Waiting, waiting… and the droids began streaming into the ring armed with wooden bats.

May the training begin.

\--


	15. Visitors within a dream

Morgan’s breath was strained. She cradled an injured arm to her chest while she laid in bed. Though the medic droids had said it should be fine by morning, Morgan couldn’t help the pain in her limbs. Toro was laying on her bed with her with his arms holding her to his chest. Though they’d only met a few weeks ago, he’d learned she wouldn’t judge him for crying in pain on needing comfort. 

He was having a nightmare again, so she moved her hands to rub his back gently. Slowly, the girl fell into a deep sleep.

Morgan sat alone in her library as usual. Sometimes Toro would come visit her if he could find his way in form his own dreams. Usually, though, she remained alone. Cobwebs were beginning to form, and the light seemed dimmer than before. The plants around her library were still alive, but their leafs had black spots forming on them.

Hello?” A voice echoed through the library. It was female, a voice that Morgan didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” the girl called back. She looked around in the dark until she could see the slight green light that covered the woman. She saw me at the same time I saw her.

“Where am I?” Her voice gave away no emotion. She was some sort of humanoid being with a long white head and black tattoos. She wore an all red outfit that seemed like some sort of status symbol.

“In my dream. It happens sometimes so don’t worry. You can’t die or anything here.”

She glanced around the room. “What is your name, child.”

“Morgan. And you?”

“Talzin. How have you done this? Our connection must be your doing, correct?” She grabbed a book and flipped through the empty pages before putting it back.

“My master told me it’s a power I must’ve inherited from my species. With training they are able to communicate with their twin even when separated during missions on different planets.”

“Master? What master? Who is this person.” She stared at the girl with a determined look. Morgan shuffled her feet. 

“My master is a sith lord.”

Morgan watched as the woman’s emotions changed rapidly. Surprise, then fear, anger, and finally pain. “Have you seen a young zabrak boy?” Her voice broke. “He’s your age. Red skin, horns on his head?”

“You mean Toro?” The child slowly realized. “He’s your son…” 

Morgan stared at the floor. “He’s, well… he’s alive. I’ve done my best to ensure he doesn’t suffer to much but I haven’t known him long. The darkness already had a hold on him when I came here. I’m sorry… I don’t think I can protect him forever.”

She looked back up, but the woman had disappeared. 

“I’m sorry.”


	16. Hatred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its short

Morgan hated her Master. She hated how he would disappear for months without a word and returned to torment them. She hated the way Toro seemed to worship their master some days and plot the man's murder the next. She hated the way Sidious would torture Toro with his lightning, then treat her like the perfect child. 

She wasnt perfect, she was flawed. She had more flaws than Toro, and she tries to show this to their master.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" Toro asked as he bandaged her arm up after training. The cut from her wrist to her shoulder was bleeding through the bandages already.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. She wasn't really sorry though, there was a reason behind everything she does. Today, she was trying in vain to turn her master's punishments away from Toro and onto herself.

"Your an idiot," he spat. She flinched, expecting him to hit her despite him never doing it before. Instead he pulled her into his chest in a hug. "Thank you."

She sniffles but managed to hold back her tears. He slowly pulled her backwards onto the bed and held her there.

"What are you doing?" She giggled, but was met with a soft snoring. 

Days seemed to pass to no availability. The droid that looked over them treated them kind one moment then cruel to Toro the next. But it was never,  _ ever _ mean to Morgan. She was treated like a princess everywhere but the training arena. Incapable of making mistakes. 

Morgan hated the way their droid baby seemed to be bipolar. They learned not to trust anything but each other. If somebody presents you with a gift, it's a trap. If somebody says they will train you peacefully, it's a trap. To be honest, it's probably best to assume everything is a trap. Except for nighttime. Sleeping in your bedroom was a safe place. Nothing can hurt you, except for nightmares.

_ "Morgan?!" Toro cried out, running towards the flashing light of crashing lightsabers. Red against green. The lights danced through the darkness, growing brighter and brighter as he ran through the metal halls towards the battle.  _

_ "Toro?" Morgan gasped as she turned away from the man she battled. He wore a skull mask with white robes. A Jedi, one so tall he was nearly twice her size. Morgan's face contorted into one of fear. "Toro behind you!" _

_ He spun around as a Jedi swung his blue blade at his stomach. The young boy shrunk away, squeezing his eyes shut as the blade burned his body _ .

"Morgan!" He cried as he shot up out of bed and ran out of his room. He didn't know where he was going, but he found himself rushing into Morgan's room. "Morgan wake up."

He shook her gently until her eyes fluttered open and she gasped. Her hand immediately shot to her stomach like she'd been shot.

"Toro, what-" she was interrupted by him sliding into the bed beside her. He said nothing but stare at the ceiling until she began singing a lullaby under her breath. 

_ "Hush little child don't cry, I will make sure everything's alright…" _


	17. Orsis academy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed it a little so that it would fit my story better.

The building they called a school shouldn’t be for children. It was black and seemed to have been a castle at some point. Many towers climbed far into the sky, and Morgan could tell that, if you sat on top of one, you could even see the farthest areas of the castle.

  
It was an assassination school. Or Bounty Hunting school. Everybody inside was being instructed on the best ways to maim or kill their enemies. The most surprising thing about this entire thing was the fact that the Jedi Order allowed it to exist with the rule that nobody who attended could be force sensitive. Meaning, Morgan and Maul could easily get away with attending so long as they dial back their power.

“Control. That’s what Master is teaching us,” Morgan said as she and her partner stood beside her. He had just turned ten, and she was twelve, yet he remained taller and fitter than she. In fact, he would often be mistaken for the older one while they attended this school.

Toro never smiled unless they were alone, but Morgan could see the amusement in his eyes as he stared up at the sign. He was excited and found it funny that their master would send them to an actual school. Training would be just as difficult here, but he enjoyed showing off his skills to her and most likely others as well.

Morgan, on the other hand, didn’t care about the training or showing off. She was to busy rejoicing over the amount of people to learn from. More books, different foods besides gruel, and a variety of fighting styles that their master would’ve never even  _ dreamed _ of teaching them. Everything was bigger and better. 

The planet’s name was Orsis, and the academy was named for it. Beyond the school was a deep forest to one side and mountains to the other. Beyond the mountains was a desert.

The headmaster Trezza had already talked to their master, who had disguised himself as a blind man hoping to train a bodyguard. Morgan wore a pair of goggles to hide her eyes, and had her tail hidden within her pantlegs to hide her species from others.

“Mordre and Maul, follow me.” Trezza said. That was another thing that was odd to both children. Sidious had suddenly changed their names to Mordre and Maul for this school. They could call each other what they wanted while alone, but never in front of others.

The children were led through the school past a library and various rooms with their door shut tight. The castle had more than enough rooms for all 500 cadets, but decided that having roommates could be useful for people who arrived in pairs.

Mordre had the top bunk, Maul the bottom. Their room wasn’t furnished much besides that, with only a small closet already filled with the school uniform. 

“Hey!” Somebody said. It was a  [ Nautolan ](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nautolan/Legends) girl around their age, smiling in the doorway of their room like they’d known each other their entire lives.

“Um, hello,” Mordre said as she lowered herself from the top bunk. Maul watched from where he sat on his bed playing with a cube puzzle. “I’m Mordre, this is Maul.”   
  
“My name’s Kilindi Matako, you’re new here right?” Mordre nodded. “Well, you guys want to go swimming with me and my friend Daleen?”   
  
Maul shot up. “Swimming? Yes.”   
  
\-----------

There was a freshwater pond not far from the school hidden in the trees. Streams trickled into it from the mountains, and the trees offered shade that kept the water shaded from the sun. Maul and Mordre were both cautious, used to friendliness quickly turning to cruel tricks thanks to their bipolar droid back on Mustafar.

“Come on in, the water’s fine!” Daleen, a human girl, said. She smiled up at them until Mual finally agreed and stepped into the water. The pond was clean and clear enough that you could see all the way to the bottom far below their feet. There were small fish in there, swimming deep near the bottom.

“How far down does it go?” Mordre asked as she stepped into the water as well. She stared below. The water made the bottom seem much closer but, ducking her head below the suface she could tell the bottom was far out of reach and difficult to actually measure.

“It’s about 13 yards.”   
  
Maul gaped in surprise, then looked down at the bottom that appeared to be only feet away from where he was floating. “But… Hmmm…”   
  
“I bet I can get there before all of you,” Mordre said, despite knowing she was a terrible swimmer. Both of them were, actually. What they were good at was holding their breath. They had to be, with how many times their droid guardian had thrown them out into the toxic air of that molten planet. 

Maul grinned and ducked below the surface, pushing off a stone on the pond ledge to give himself a boost. The girls did the same, with Mordre diving down just after Daleen. Maul reached the bottom first, grabbing a small, shiny yellow stone off the ground as a prize before pushing off and heading back to the surface. Mordre somehow managed to pass him right before they reached the air, and laughed as he groaned in annoyance.

“I guess I don’t really have a right to this trophy then, huh?” Maul handed the yellow stone to Mordre, who rolled it around in her hands for a moment. It looked like gold, but it was blocky. Like two cubes intersecting each other. She shrugged and tried to hand it back but he refused. 

“Fools’ Gold.” Kilindi said as she stared at the stone. “You find it all over this planet. It looks like gold, but is worth nothing. I heard you can’t melt it or anything. Some sort of mineral, not a metal.”   
  
As if  _ physics _ could stop Mordre from doing what she wanted.


	18. Runaway

It was the first time she’d ever blatantly broke a rule set by her master. She wasn’t supposed to use the force unless she was with Sidious and he said she could. Yet here she was, sitting in her closet, using the force to break the rules of nature and combine little pieces of trophy fools gold that Maul had gathered only to hand over to her. So far, after being there for barely a month, she had combined everything and still only had a chunk barely the size of her pinky.

“Mordre, come on, we need to go!” Maul banged on the closet door, startling the girl. She jumped up as the door opened and followed him out. They quickly headed out to the hall and met with their friends, Daleen and Kilindi. Together the four of them made their way to class.

The sun wasn’t up yet, and Mordre was still used to the heat of Mustafar and Tatoine, so she was bundled up in a black jacket over her uniform. 

They got into the training quickly. Mordre against Kilindi due to her persistence, and an annoyed Maul with Daleen.

“We go next time,” Maul called to Mordre before he began his sparring match.

“You two are close huh?” Kilindi said as she armed herself with a wooden sword. Mordre chose a staff, shrugging as they readied themselves for a fight. It didn’t last long. As soon as an impatient Kilindi charged, Mordre knocked her sword away and swept her feet out from under her.

“Again?” Mordre asked and they quickly went again. Maul came over with a disgruntled and- most likely- loser Daleen. Partners were switched and Maul and Mordre began their match against each other.

“Ready?” Maul asked, only to attack before she could respond.

Kids lost interest in their own match to make their way over to the sparring match. Mordre seemed to dance as she fought, swaying and moving so swiftly that it was more like ballet than a battle. Maul was the same, and seemed to mimic her style more like he was her student rather than her equal. Staff against staff they fought, but neither could get a one up. They were equal. Then they both smiled, and the onlookers realized they were only playing. This battle that none of the kids could hope to survive, much less win, was nothing more than a game. One that nobody could tell who would win.

Then, with a laugh, Mordre swept her partners feet out from under him and slammed him into the ground. “Good job! You did better than usual.”   
  
Maul let her help him up and smiled. It was a happy smile, one that none of the other cadets had ever seen before. “Again?”   
\--------

Maul and Mordre sat under the trees, staring up at the moon and stars. It was Maul’s thirteenth birthday and the anniversary of their arrival at this academy.

“I made you something,” Mordre said, sitting up slightly. He did the same and she internally grumbled about the fact that he was still taller and stronger than her. She smiled outwardly though, and help out a small pouch. 

“What is it?”   
  
She laughed. “Just open it and find out! It’s a gift, after all.”   
  
He sighed and slowly pulled out a necklace. It had a black leather cord and an oval charm. There was a carving set with red paint in the charm. A four sided star.

“I thought maybe we should have our own symbol. Now we’ll know how to recognize each other if we’re ever in trouble.” He put it on, and she smiled at how it hung right over his heart. “Do you like it?”   
  
In response, he grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her for the first time. She smiled fresh and sweet, like the wind blowing through the Cucondi grass. He breathed in her smell and kissed her until she pulled away to breathe. 

“What are you doing?” She whispered as she wrapped her arms over his shoulder. 

“I love you,” he said in a pained voice. “I love you, but master won’t like it.” 

“He doesn’t need to know. In fact, we could run away. It wouldn’t be difficult to escape him, we just tell Trezza we were kidnapped by him. Tell him we don’t want to go back. We could get help from the Jedi-”   
  
“No!” He jumped up, glaring at her. He calmed down when she flinched away. “We can’t go to the Jedi. They’re evil and corrupt, remember?”   
  
“That’s what our master said, but what if he was lying? I don’t think we can trust him.”   
  
Maul looked away from her, knowing there was some truth in it, but knowing that there was more to Sidious than what they were allowed to see. “We can’t deny what we have seen. I can still hear the screams of your people in my head. They were murdered by those Jedi. My  _ ancestors _ were nearly wiped out by the Jedi!”    
  
Mordre couldn’t deny it, so she settled with just pulling him back down onto the ground gently and kissing him again. She felt the tension leave his body and he slowly relaxed into her arms.

“It’ll be alright, Toro.”


	19. Random and Aogul

It was only weeks before their final test. It would be a long hike up into the mountains for Maul and Mordre. 

  
“Are you excited?” She said as she curled up into Maul’s arms on the bottom bunk. He nodded slightly as he stared straight up. He was sixteen now, so she must’ve been at least eighteen, but nobody could believe that. She was to small, but her mental maturity proved she was, in fact, 18. She was to wise.

“Excitement is not the right word for it.” He was stiff, and everytime she moved or her eyes landed on his face he would tense up.

“What is it?” She asked, sitting up slightly on an elbow and smiling down at him. His mouth gaped as he tried to think of what to say, but she was quickly able to figure out what was bothering him by looking at the bulge in his pants.

\-----------

“Me and Daleen have a surprise for you when you return,” Kilindi said, smiling. She’d gotten taller through the years, nearing Maul’s height and therefore overshadowing Mordre. 

“Yes, I will return later.” Maul turned away, only to stop when the dreaded question was asked.

“Where’s Mordre?”

The question was something he’d been asking himself for days. One that he would find the answer to as soon as he contacted his master.

“She’s sick.” He lied before beginning his final test. He had to climb, fight, and navigate through the forest and up a mountain, but nothing could stop him from reaching the top in record speed. Nothing would prevent him from winning so he could go find Mordre.

And then, as he reached the top and stared out towards the school that was barely a dot to him, he got a message from his master.

“Where is Mordre?” Sidious said. Maul didn’t know how to respond. Should he tell the truth, or would Sidious hunt her down for it?    
  
“I don’t know.”   
  
A growl can from the hologram, but was quickly settled. Maul was given an order, his first real mission. 

“Kill everybody in the building, then burn it to the ground.”   
  
Nothing could stop the boy from finding Mordre. His lover, his partner… his passion. Nothing mattered except for her.

He held Kilindi as she died. She was smiling, staring up into his eyes the same way she always had. “I guess you didn’t want the surprise…”

\-----

Mordre had told Trezza how she had to leave the planet. She was in danger, and she didn’t want to die young. 

Trezza responded by providing the girl with transportation free of charge without a word to her master. She was an adult now, after all, so it was legal for her to leave the school without her guardian being contacted. The headmaster was more worried about the babies the girl claimed to be pregnant with.

Mordre arrived on Zastiga, said goodbye to the person who provided transportation, and quickly went in search of somebody to assist her in fleeing.

“I’m in need of assistance,” she said to a bartender. 

“What sort of assistance?” He asked. He could see tears on her face despite the black hood of her robe covering her face. 

“I-I’m running away from an abusive man. He-he will have f-figured out I’m pregnant. I need to flee,  _ please _ !”   
  
The bartender shushed her gently in an attempt to calm her down. She was a good actress, apparently. She was waved towards a man drinking in a booth. 

“Well, well, what do we have here?” He said cheerfully, but his smile fell when he saw tears dipping off her chin. “Can I help you?”   
  
“I need to get off this planet and far away from here. I”m sorry, I-I-” she began crying softly again.

“Woah, woah, it’s alright. Look, uh, my name’s Randil. My partner and co-pilot here is Aogul.” He motioned towards the green Rodian man across the table from him. 

“Thank you, sir. I-I don’t have much, but I can offer you this.” She held out a bag to him. It was full of what looked like lumps of gold. “I’m from a mining world. It’s unrefined and untraceable.”   
  
“I could put my son through a good school with this,” Aogul said, reaching towards the bag. Randil snatched it away, closed it tight while glancing around before hiding it in his coat. The gold, though unprocessed, would still be worth quite a bit with how heavy it seemed to be.

“Where do you want to go?” Randil leaned forward.    
  
“Coruscant, please. I need to- the Jedi will protect my baby.”   
  
The woman laid a hand over her stomach, which bulged slightly. It wasn’t enough to be noticeable unless you were actually looking for it.

“Alright, ma’am. My ship isn’t far, just follow me.”   
  
Randil was a smuggler, and had accumulated a lot of money over many decades working as one. His ship was a YT-1300 light freighter, shiny and new as the day he bought it, which was only a few weeks ago. On one side a neatly written “Millennium Falcon” was written in shiny black paint.

“A smuggler huh? I don’t think it’s a good idea to write who you are on the ship,” Mordre muttered. Randil shrugged, then took her arm gently to pull her up the ramp. 

“Sit down, make yourself comfortable.” Aogul said, waving towards some benches. Mordre just followed the two men into the cockpit. She sat in the seat right behind the pilot and waited patiently and silently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't gold she gave them it was pyrite. I thought it would be funny to come the smugglers.


	20. library

Dead within a woman's mind is a library. It's dark with no light streaming in from the windows any more. Dust and dead plants littered the shelves and floor. 

At the heart of the building is a weeping woman, crying softly to herself.

"Are you alright?" A young boy asked. Morgan looked towards the child and stopped crying at the sight of his face. The boy was no older than four or five with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes. 

"I'm fine, thank you. What is your name?"

"Anakin Skywalker, what's yours?"

"Morgan."

"Why are you sad miss?"

Morgan turned so the boy could see her stomach. She was a few months in, but her stomach had already doubled in size.

"I'm pregnant, but I can't have any help raising or feeding them."

She pulled her hood to hide her face more. all the boy could see of her face was a single yellow eye shining from underneath the hood.

"You'll be okay," he said. He smiled and began to fade. He was waking up. 

"As will you, my dear."

"I don't want to go, can't we be friends?"

"If you want to return, my library will be open to you."

As the boy faded, light began shining through the windows once more.


	21. Assistance for the missing

Morgan wandered through the streets of Coruscant aimlessly, surviving by eating trash and begging for food. She was good at hiding, trying her best in the lower levels to keep herself and her babies healthy.

“Excuse me,” a man said as he hobbled up to her. He was an elderly Cosian with a turtle-like appearance and cane. His robes showed that he was a jedi, but he didn’t look capable of fighting these days.

“Are you alright?” Morgan asked, standing up despite her heavy stomach. Her back ached and she felt like she wanted to cry and punch somebody at the same time, but instead she smiled at the man.

“I could ask you the same thing, little one. What are you doing beggin when you’re expecting a child?”   
  
“Two, actually. Twins. And it’s not like I wanted this.”   
  
And indeed she didn’t. She would’ve loved to settle down with Toro, buy a house and a yard where they could raise their children and live happily for the rest of their days. But he didn’t want to be happy, he wanted to be powerful.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. The jedi patted her back as she cried.

“It’ll be alright. Tell me, do you have any family? Friends?” 

“No, they’re all dead. I was going to give them to the jedi temple here on Coruscant.”

  
He looked surprised for a moment. He pursed his lips, “Are you sure you want to do that? You won’t be able to take them back if you do.”

She nodded. “Their father is force sensitive, and I’ve been told most of my life that I am too.”

He seemed surprised again. 

A plan was made. Morgan, without giving her name or any information about herself, was given aid while pregnant. The jedi eventually introduced himself as Tera Sinube, and stayed by her side for most of the process. 

She held her babies for the first and last time. The boy had red skin and a crown of horns just like his father, and the little girl had black hair and blue eyes. Morgan smiled at them, holding back tears as she tried to decide on names. The children’s tails curled around their bodies protectively underneath the blankets they were bundled in. 

“Aria and Aogul,” she said, smiling wider. “My children’s names are Aria and Aogul, and they’ll be great jedi.”   
  


Now came the hard part for Morgan: leaving the children behind. She left in the middle of the night, careful to avoid cameras or anything similar as she snuck out of the building. Nobody would know, and nobody would look for her. The jedi got what they wanted, two beautiful and powerful new recruits. 

She curled up in an alleyway as the night turned to day and day turned into night once again. She didn’t want to move, or eat, or sleep. What was the point of moving from that spot?

A scarlet saber ignited, the blade sitting right below her chin. She didn’t move or beg for her life, she just sat there staring at the wall. Slowly the blade moved away as Toro moved to sit next to her. 

“Morgan?” He said, shaking her gently. She shook her head.

“Please,” she begged.

“Please what?”   
  
“Please kill me.” She would’ve cried if she had any more tears. As always, Toro was taller than her, and much stronger. He picked her up gently and carried her out of the alley and through the streets. Nobody seemed to care about this young woman in dirty white cloths being carried around by a stranger in a black robe. Nobody could see his red skin and crown of horns, but they could see the red eyes glowing underneath the hood.


	22. Names

Morgan wasn’t expecting much when she was returned to her master, maybe some torture and brutal training, but I think it was her master who was surprised when he saw her. Her dead expression and dull eyes seemed to bore holes in his head as she stared at him. For years he had tried to make her compliant and broken, and here she was.

Sidious grinned at the child’s dead eyes. She was thin and weak, looking tinier than usual thanks to all her time on the streets. Something inside her broke while she was missing, and neither her master or her lover questioned her on why or how. Once more she was pushed into training and practice.

She was labeled a sith assassin at age nineteen and given the name Mordre. Toro was given the name Darth Maul a year or so later when he turned eighteen. Time flew. The two kids still loved each other, but the way Mordre seemed to drift through life like a ghost frightened Maul. She was the only thing he feared. He knew from practice that she fought with a different strength.

Mordre fought with the strength and speed of somebody who wasn’t afraid to die.

There came a night where Maul found himself in her room like when they were younger. She moved to one side and pulled him close as he slept against her chest. His hands gripped her back as she her hands traced over his scars and newer injuries. Her touch could make the pain fade away as if it wasn’t there.

“What happened while you were missing,” he asked again. She smiled sadly, but said nothing as usual. There was nothing to say.

Nothing to do.

It wasn’t until three or four years later that she finally had a mission. While Maul would go out and destroy or kill as Sidious directed, she was kept imprisoned in that base on a molten planet she couldn’t remember the name of. But now, she was going to be useful.

She didn’t like desert sand, it was dry and hot and brought back memories nearly as bad as what she’d come to know as normal. She didn’t like the sand of Tatooine as the wind blew it in her face and over the dunes.

She pointed, “the town should be over there.”

Maul took out binoculars to look, but she just hopped on a speeder bike and raced towards the town. Nobody would look at her twice, after all. She was just some human, dressed in a black robe with a white tunic underneath. 

“Excuse me,” she said politely as she entered a store. A young boy sat on the counter, talking to a young woman. Mordre bowed politely, then smiled at the boy. 

“Hello! Watto is busy with another person but I can help you... maybe.” The young boy brushed his long blond hair away from his face as he spoke.   
  
“No, I-” she broke off as she noticed the young boy had a tail that curled around tools he needed to hold like an extra hand. She recognized him, though he looked older than when he’d met him. “What’s your name?”   
  


“Anakin, what’s your’s?”

She hesitated in answering. “Mordre.”   
  


“That name sounds familiar,” a new man replied. He walked back in with a Toydarian following at his heel. “I believe it was one that belonged to a young musician over twenty years ago.”   
  
The man was a jedi, staring at Mordre nervously. “Yes, well, perhaps I was named for her. I must be off, I don’t want to get in anybody’s way.”   
  
She left before anything could be said. She knew where the Jedi was, at least. A droid flew through the streets and stopped beside her. As she hurried through the streets, the droid followed closely beside her.

“Who is the boy?” Maul’s voice came through the droid, choppy and barely recognizable. She didn’t reply. “Speak, for the sake of the mission!”   
  
“You mustn't tell master. Swear on your life.”   
  
“I swear on my life.”   
  


“He’s my nephew.”

The droid went silent, and Mordre took the time to walk away. She wanted to find the boy and talk to him, figure out if she could help him in some way.   
  
“Excuse me,” the jedi said suddenly from behind her. She startled and turned towards him. She bowed slightly as the gungun behind him stared around at the buildings around them. He looked like he was sight seeing and it somehow annoyed her.

“Hello, may I help you?” Mordre asked, watching the Gungun stare at a clothesline far above them.

“Who are you,” was all the jedi asked. She laughed.

“I could ask you the same thing, Jedi. What is somebody like you doing in a place like this. Tatooine is out of the Republic’s reach, there is no law here.”   
  
The Jedi narrowed his eyes at her, but she just smiled wider. She wasn’t actually happy, or sad. The annoyance she felt towards the Gungun faded to nothing quickly, leaving her in her numb feeling.

“What’s your name?” She asked suddenly.

“Qui gon Jinn. And you?”   
  
Her smile disappeared as she remembered something her brother had told her many years before. “You already know my name,” was all she said.

“Remind me."

Before she could reply, the Gungun yelped as he was attacked by a Dug. Anakin saved the day by putting himself between the attacker and the Gungun.

_ “Be careful, Sebulba, you wouldn’t want to have to pay for me.” _ Anakin said in a different language. Mordre swallowed hard as she realized the child was a slave like she had been. There were no bruises or injuries that she could see on the boy’s body, so she decided that his master probably treated him better than usual.

“There’s a storm coming,” the young boy said to the four people. “Do you have a shelter?”   
  


“Our ship will be fine, it’s just outside the city.”   
  
“It’s to far, you’d never make it,” Mordre replied before she could help herself. “The sand storms of Tatooine are deadly. Very few people survive after being caught in one.”   
  
“You can come to my home to wait out the storm.” He grabbed onto the hand of the young girl traveling with the jedi and began pulling her behind him. They all hurried through the streets until they came to the apartments for slaves. Mordre took it as proof that the boy’s master treated him well. 

“Ani, who are these people?” 

“Hi mom, they didn’t have a place to go before the storm hit.” Ani said. He smiled up at the young girl. “Hey, you wanna see my droid?”   
  
The girl and Ani hurried off to a back room. The boy’s bedroom, most likely.

“My name is Mordre, it’s a pleasure to meet the woman who has raised such a kind and intelligent son.” She bowed. 

“My name is Shmi Skywalker, and thank you so much for your kind words.”   
  
“I am Quigon Jinn and this is Jar Jar Binks. That young woman you saw was a handmaiden.”   
  


Mordre could sense that the man was lying. Not a handmaiden then what or who? She’d been told by her master that she was to find a missing queen from Naboo, but other than that? Not a word of what would happen to the queen once she was captured. And this jedi, what would happen to him?   
  
As the storm blew overhead Shmi made dinner for everybody. The jedi and the Skywalkers spoke about slavery and how it could still exist in the galaxy. He didn’t seem to understand that the Republic didn’t reach all the way out here.

“You, have we met before?” Shmi asked Mordre. They were both about the same age, with Shmi being barely four or five years older. Mordre knew they’d met before, long ago.

“There used to be a library here on Tatooine. It was tall, and large, and lit by the sun that passed through the windows on the ceiling and walls. Our master owned it, he was a private collector. We weren’t allowed to read the books, but we did anyways. Or, at least, I did. You couldn’t read when we met, so I taught you.”   
  
“Morgan?”   
  
Mordre flinched at the name. Morgan was dead and gone, along with her hopes and dreams for peace and love. “Morgan is dead,” she said under her breath.

Shmi looked sad. “Then I will mourn for my friend and welcome you with open arms.”   
  
Mordre smiled, her heart fluttering happily for the first time in what felt like decades. “I missed you, but I didn’t miss this place.”   
  


Dinner went on with discussion about how the Jedi could get what they need for their ship. Shmi told them to try gambling. That’s how Anakin volunteered to win a podrace to get the Jedi the parts needed to fix his ship.

Mordre left only minutes after the storm passed, stomping through the thick sand that covered the walking areas. 

“Aunty wait!” Anakin called, running to catch up with her. “Why didn’t you tell me? What happened to the baby?”

She turned down an alleyway and lept to the roof of a building, staring down at the young boy as he tried to find her. 

“How did you escape the planet?!” He cried. She left him there, crying in the sand.

“With help,” she whispered. “As you will.”

  
  



	23. Suicidal thoughts

Mordre was recalled to stand by the neimoidians that Sidious wanted to stay alive. His name was Gunray, and he was a pain in her ass. She didn’t want to be there, especially for so long. She watched over him and protected him for over a week before she was sent to Naboo.

“What are we doing here,” she said to Maul as she followed him through the passages of the castle until they came to a hanger bay. 

“Kill the jedi, capture the queen.”   
  
Mordre fell behind him, obeying his unsaid order to stay back from the fight. He wanted to protect her, knowing she would fight recklessly until she died. They dropped their robes, same as Qui gon and his padawan. Mordre with her twin blades and Maul with his double saber against the two Jedi.

“I thought there was something off about you,” Qui gon said, igniting his saber. Then, they charged. The master charged for Maul with his student attacking her. They pushed the sith back, through corridors and into a security hall. Force Fields shot up all of a sudden, separating the master and his student.

“I don’t want to hurt you boy,” Mordre said, sabers drawn and eyes dull as she watched what the student would do next. He shuffled his feet, trying to decide what to do.    
  
“Why?”   
  
She gave him a sad smile. “I’m going to help you two escape if I can, but you mustn’t let Maul know. Understand?”   
  
The boy nodded. He was taller than her, but still so childish. He had yet to know of pain and heartbreak, and she wanted to keep it that way. 

“Attack me. Push me into a wall, understood?”   
  
He nodded, then reached his hand out. She was thrown against the wall right before the force fields fell. The boy raced to help his master, being pushed roughly through the halls by Mordre just before the force fields could fall again and trap him on the other side of the wall from his master.

The Jedi fought Maul furiously, but weren’t able to get through his lightning fast blocks. Maul threw Qui gon through the air with difficulty. 

The jedi master jumped back to his feet and immediately returned to fighting, this time against Mordre. She couldn’t talk him out of it now, with Maul so close he could hear her, so she blocked the man’s saber and danced out of his reach. 

“Why did you fall,” Qui gon asked, attacking once more. She let him knock a saber out of her hand, then made no attempt to retrieve it.

“You think we had a choice?”   
  
“There is always a choice!”

“What choice does a child have when they are being tortured? What choice does a young woman have when she knows her children would suffer the same way she did? I fell to protect the ones I love.”   
  
“Including him?” He glanced towards where Maul was trying to defeat the padawan. For all the training Maul had received over the years, his fighting style could not break through the boy’s blocking fighting style.

“Yes,” Mordre sneered. She kicked the Jedi away as Maul pushed the padawan over the edge of the garbage shoot. 

“Kill him!” He yelled at her before slicing his saber over the edge to send sparks raining down over the boy.

“Obi Wan!” The master yelled, throwing Mordre’s discarded saber into the air. The master charged at her while she watched in fear as the padawan leapt out of the shoot and behind Maul. she screamed and threw her saber in an attempt to stop the boy’s saber from slicing through Maul.

A sharp pain went through her gut as Maul’s legs were sliced off right below his hip and he fell into the garbage shoot. The pain… the pain was from Qui gon’s saber going through her stomach.

He caught her as she fell, a look of regret on his face. 

  
“Just let me die,” she whispered before losing consciousness. 

\---------------

Morgan Flavobur, a 25 year old woman who had already bore and abandoned two children and watched her husband die, was ready to join her family in the afterlife. Surely her mother would forgive her. Her brother wouldn’t hate her. Right? She didn’t know the answer, and she had been to afraid she was wrong to kill herself for years. Yet, as she was imprisoned in the castle on Naboo, she began wondering if she should. There was no window, but the brick wall wasn’t strong enough to stop the force if she was conducting it. Nobody would get hurt besides her. And, honestly, who was there to miss her anyways.

There was no reason to live.

“Are you alright?” A voice startled her. Obi Wan Kenobi, the padawan from earlier, was standing at the entrance. 

Mordre didn’t say or do anything, just stared at him. He shuffled on his feet uncomfortably. “You did what you said you’d do, try to help us. You could’ve fought back, but you didn’t. You could’ve killed my master while he was down but you didn’t.”   
  
She looked towards the door behind the boy. “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”

The machine shut off as wires were ripped from the ceiling. She fell to the floor, staring at the boy expectantly. She wanted him to strike her down, kill her where she stood, but his saber remained at his side.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said, staring at her while she walked towards him. She stood right in front of him now, crying silently as she took his robes and shook him. 

“Kill me, please!” She begged, but her only reply was the young man pulling her to his chest in a hug. He was warm and gentle, the opposite of Maul’s hugs yet the same somehow. He was filled with the need to protect her, just like the man she had loved.

“It will get better, but for now, it’s okay to hurt. I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you.”   
  
She hoped that her children grew up to be more like Obi Wan than their father.


	24. Recap

Anakin Skywalker was to be trained by Qui gon, but instead became Obi Wan’s padawan. In a strange turn of events, Qui gon decided that taking the long lost daughter of Comma Flavobur would be a harder and much more important mission than personally training the young boy. Anakin was okay with this, and even supported the decision. 

Anakin would train as a jedi, while Morgan stayed in the temple under the watchful eyes of Mace Windu and Qui gon Jinn. they would insure she didn’t stray back to the darkness.

The library was brighter than what Anakin was used to. The golden light brightened up the shelves and provided the plants with a way to live. There was no dust, thanks to Morgan cleaning everything up until it was spotless. 

“Are you okay?” Anakin asked as he stepped into the lounging area. She turned and smiled at him. This was the first time he’d seen her entire face. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun on top of her head with two sharp hair pins pushed through to keep it from falling. She had a yellow eye and a blue eye, both bright against her deathly pale skin and dark brown hair. She wore a snow white dress that covered every inch of her except her feet, hands, and neck.

She smiled at him. “I’m fine, my boy. And you?”

“I miss my mother.” Anakin began playing with his padawan braid absently. He was used to his longer hair. He shivered in his sleep from the cold that he had yet to get used to. She noticed and made a baby blue blanket appear out of nowhere. She sat on a couch, waving for Ani to join before laying a blanket over them both. 

“It’s alright to miss somebody, but remember that they are always there within the force. She’s out there, happy and healthy. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to teach you about this ability our people have-”

“Wait, what do you mean by our people?”   
  
Morgan hugged him close and smiled sadly.    
  
“I suppose it’s time for a story. A story that my brother, your father, told me before he died.”   
  
“You knew my father?”   
  
“Yes, he died before you were conceived.”   
  
The young boy gave a confused expression that she just smiled at. 

“A long time ago, there was a race called the Fargul, a cat like species that lived in unexplored space. The jedi found the planet and decided to explore it, not knowing of the dangers that lived in unsuspecting places. The planet was home to two small flowers, both strong with one side of the force. The golden flower was powerful with the light side, then there were black flowers determined to do one thing. Destroy.”   
  
“What happened to the jedi?”

“One of the jedi made the mistake of eating one of the black flowers and was possessed. It turned him into something similar to a zombie. He attacked his friends, infecting them the same way. The possessed jedi attacked the natives, our people, a destroyed them all except for a small group of children that the queen had hidden. The Queen, Comma, is my mother and your grandmother. She was kind, and gentle, and a great jedi before being seduced by a sith lord.”   
  
Morgan stared down at a small metal box sitting on a coffee table. There was no light coming from the music box, but the memories that the previous owner had left behind showed enough for her to understand what had happened to her mother.

“The sith lord showed his true colors and injured her. She ran away and gave birth to two beautiful babies. One of them was sent off to be taken care of elsewhere, and one was sent to Coruscant to be raised as a jedi. I was the one sent off, eventually being found and raised to be a sith assassin, but your father was raised at the temple we both live in now. We met much the same way we did, and he ran away to Tatooine to save me but was captured by the sith. He… he died when he was about your age, but they did something to him. He came back as a force wraith. Before he was completely taken over by either side of the force, I gave him a purpose. I told him to find somebody to love, so he searched for years.”   
  
“And then he found my mother?”   
  
“Yes, he found your mother. When you were born, he decided he knew enough love, and passed on to the next world.”   
  
“He died because he loved me so much?”   
  
“Yes.” She reached her hand up and called for a book to come forward. “And now, with that story ended, how about I tell you about some others, huh?” 

He nodded excitedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morgan would die for ani.


End file.
